Interview: Kelly Madison – Matriarch of the Mom & Pop Porn Shop

A few weeks ago, I was sent the trailer for the new joint by husband and wife production house Kelly Madison Media, called Women of the Middle East. Not knowing what to expect, beyond at least a medium level of controversy, I opened it up and, by the end, was impressed by what I’d seen and knew I had to speak to Madison, the jovial matriarch of the business.

“This movie is not just another movie for us. It’s a personal statement from me and my company,” said the aforementioned Kelly Madison in a press release for the film. “This movie is a message of empowerment and support for women all over the world who have their freedoms denied in the name of religion, politics, or patriarchal traditions.”

According to the same release, the film is shot in the company’s favored 4K super high definition, now a hallmark of what kind of quality PornFidelity.com has to offer, and is “a symbol for all of the human rights violations against these women, such as rape and domestic violence. Take the veils off!” Quite the alarming and politically weighted message to infuse to a piece of cinema with hardcore content.

Just a short while after seeing the invigorating trailer, Madison and I sat down to chat about her experience making the film, as well as her time in adult in general.

“I was just a normal corporate girl who got into the industry,” she told me during our conversation. Madison was excited to chat about her story, about the industry, and about what she’s learned about sex. As well, she opened up about how she’s more comfortable in the industry than she was in her corporate life.

“I find it a kinder, gentler environment than the corporate world,” she stated. “[The corporate world] was way more tainted than what it is in porn.” Madison is a passionate speaker, and is a powerful proponent of ethical adult, living proof that the industry can be respectful and professional. That, and her high functioning marriage to Ryan Madison, who is on screen much of the time, while Kelly directs and produces, shows that traditional notions of love and pornography are, in fact, compatible.

Enjoy this edited account of our conversation below.

What was your inspiration to make Women of the Middle East?

Well actually, it was my husband’s idea; he had seen the popularity of Mia Khalifa and her crazy media hype. I was a little bit hesitant to kind of exploit that same kind of thing, but I do think that the most beautiful women in the world are from the Middle East. It’s kind of like that taboo where so many of them are covered up, so of course if you can’t see something, you desire it even more. You want to see it, you want to have it. If something is labeled as taboo, labeled as bad, we all go ape-shit for it.

We wanted to try to do it in a way that’s still a little politically correct, trying not to offend, but I wanted to show these women in a different kind of porn. And I didn’t want to do it stupidly, throwing some burkas on, with a gangbang, just for the shock value. Let’s at least have a little bit of storyline in it, and with each of the scenes, except for one, have a little political comment. I wanted a little social commentary in it, but also make it fun and sexy, and I tried to cast real Middle Eastern women. We’d love to shoot more of them!

It’s a lot about empowerment through sex and through choice. How do you view female empowerment, as someone who works in the industry?

It’s getting more popular, and I’m really happy about it. I’m more proud to be in this industry now than I was ten years ago, because there are more female directors, female owners, and the girls certainly don’t feel like they have to do whatever they’re told to do. I like the fact that the agents try to be helpful and responsible to their models. I just feel like if you’re working with a woman in porn, and she shows up on set, you make her feel beautiful, and you make her feel empowered, and you tell her that she can yell cut at any time, or she can share her ideas. You get a much better scene, because the women feel like they’re really part of the production. They’re the most important part of the production; I try to let them all know that.

About your company, it’s so heartwarming to have a husband and wife team that produces pornography. How do you maintain that kind of business and personal relationship?

It was a total transition. It went from both of us selling commercial printing, he was a designer and I was sales rep. We got together and said, “hey, let’s make a porn company,” and he said “we should make a website about you because your boobs are real,” and I said, “no dude, I’m not going to be in front of a camera, that’s not my thing.” But I ended up liking it, I felt empowered, I felt a sexual freedom for the first time, an acceptance of my body that I’d never had before. I had suffered eating disorders in my 20s, and porn actually made me really comfortable with myself naked, in front of a camera. We started PornFidelity.com, which was all threesomes, and I was in all the scenes.

Eventually, after a few years, I realized I liked doing the behind the scenes stuff, and Ryan wanted me to be a matriarch in the industry, and he’s nine years younger than I am, so we went in this avenue. Let’s work the shit out of him. And he’s gotten so much better year after year; yes I’m married to him, but he’s such a good performer on camera, he really puts his all into it. If he was doing these scenes and I was embarrassed of his performance that would be different. But he’s really good and I can take pride in that as well. I don’t have to deal so much with the jealousy end of it, because we have had a 16-year relationship.

What has the industry taught you, and what can you tell civilians that they probably wouldn’t hear otherwise, about your relationship and business?

Well we think it’s crazy! We know some people don’t understand, and think that we’re throwing wild sex parties at our house every night. That’s what I crack up about. We’re so frickin’ normal, it’s disgusting. It’s really a responsible business, we care about our employees; they’re like family to us. We’re just a little mom and pop porn shop, and that’s our little niche. It’s how we’ve survived, against all the big guys out there. I think we try to sell it as a real business to the public, even though it’s fantasy. I think more and more people are getting educated about it, they know it’s a professional thing with professional people; we’re not a bunch of drug addicts having sex and turning on a camera. Even though that’d be a lot of fun (no, just kidding)!

What have you learned about sex you wish more people knew?

It’s just sex, it’s just fantasy, it’s what gets you off, and if you’re in a safe relationship and a safe environment, there’s no reason why you can’t explore that, and get this bad, puritan belief that we have to go away. The more we’re open, there’ll be less rape, less violence against women. Everyone thinks it’s going to be the opposite, that if we open everything up and show topless women, people are going to go crazy, and I believe it’s the opposite. The more we have at our fingertips, the better choices we’re able to make, and the more happiness we’re able to have.

What advice would you give to people who don’t feel empowered sexually, who feel at the mercy of sex?

You can’t come to the table and be all you can be without aligning yourself. You can’t go into a situation where you have weird hang-ups and insecurities, and expect the other person to fix those for you. You really have to figure out what gets you off, what makes you happy, work on that, work on yourself, so that you don’t have to go into a situation with sex and feel insecure. If people could actually come to bed as fully complete people, then they’d be able to explore, be open. I’ll feel crappy sometimes, and feel those little twangs of insecurities, and Ryan will go off and shoot with a girl who’s really hot, and I’ll feel insecure, but I’ll know that it’s nothing to do with what he’s doing. It has nothing to do with the industry. It has everything to do with, “am I taking care of myself? Am I in a space where I’m feeling good and sexual?” When I am, it’s like nothing can touch me, I’ve got my armor. I think of women who get into bad sexual situations because they go into it with tons of insecurities, expecting the guy to fix them. You have to find out what you like, a lot of people don’t even know what they really like done to them.

And what would you say to guys who are similarly insecure, especially after watching pornography?

I would definitely say that there are a few people out there, and they usually find their way to porn, that like crazy going at it for an hour, two hours at a time. Actually, even sex with my husband is so calm and quiet and easy, he doesn’t have to work that hard, it’s more like normal sex. You have to keep in mind that porn is a performance; these are professionals. They’ve been training; they’ve been working it at, honing their skill. A guy can’t just stay hard for three hours and do some of these crazy positions; the guys you see are actually performers. It’s not normal, and most women don’t even like that. My husband will start getting aggressive and I’ll say, “dude, I’m your wife, we’re not on camera.” I would say most porn couples you talk to, the sex on camera is way different than off camera. People should not have insecurities after watching porn; they should just be inspired by it.

I know you probably answer this question all the time, but do you have an argument against people who say that all porn is bad and influences everyone poorly?

The people who are really, really against it have their reasons, and their certain moral values, and I don’t even take on that argument. It’s a lose/lose battle. How am I going to try and tell somebody that what I do is totally normal? I am on the fringe of society, I know that, and I tread very lightly with those people. With the other people, who think some porn is bad and some porn is good, I say support those that are making good porn. Pay for those sites, pay for those movies, because the more stuff you can get behind and sponsor, that’s what we’re going to make more of. Bottom line, it’s still about making money, and guys are a mixed market, and they usually want to see something quick and get the job done and get on with their day, so unfortunately that’s how most of the porn is going to be made. If you want to see feminist porn, or porn that showcases the women more, not as sex objects but as actual people, people have to support that. You can’t keep getting your porn for free expecting people with morals and values to make what you want to see.

Where do you see the industry going in the future, in light of all the new technology, like VR and teledildonics, that’s out there now?

I think people are going to get more specific in what kind of porn they like, so we have to make it nice and organized for them. There’s just going to be so many different kinds of porn out there. For us, we shoot in 4K, we try to give it a very cinematic look; we spend a lot of money on our equipment, and a lot of time and energy on our editing. I don’t think it’s ever going to be like Hollywood movie style, because I just don’t think there’s enough money to be made in one movie. My husband thinks it’s totally going to go the way of virtual reality; that’s the ultimate, there is nothing else, because people want to have that real experience. It’s not sci-fi anymore; it’s reality now.

Do you see any drawbacks in the newer technologies appearing now?

I’m hoping, with virtual reality at least, it’s not like with millennials, where you go out to dinner and they never look up at you, they’re looking at their phones. It’s so played out. There’s still going to be people that want that sexual contact, that skin to skin, that energy, so that’s never going to go away, it’s just going to make the person who’s already going on the Internet, or watching a DVD, it’s going to make their experience better. I don’t think it’s going to do anything to society, or have this big impact; it’s just going to give the person who already is enjoying porn on a one to one basis a better experience.

Speaking about societal impact, what kind of impact do you think Women of the Middle East will have, and what kind of impact do you want it to have?

It’s so brand new; I really haven’t gotten a response from people yet. I’m hoping it goes over really well, I hope I don’t piss off some really angry people. I just hope people really enjoy it, and that more people actually make films like this, and actually do cast more Middle Eastern women. I think it’s really sexy and really hot, like look at how sexy she looks underneath that burka! I just hope it’s well received, that someone gets it, that I wasn’t trying to exploit these religious garments that they wear, that I was trying to put a little bit of intelligence behind it. Just to say that I feel I feel for these women, and defending those who choose to wear those garments. I mean I’m a porn company; I’m not Oprah, kind of thing. Hopefully it’s well received in the industry and within our community, and with the general public. I want them to see it as not just some dumb porn, there was a little more thought behind it.

Women of the Middle East began shipping on July 29th and became available in stores August 5th, and features performances by Nadia Ali, Arabelle Raphael, Nikki Knightly, and Karmen Bella, and of course Kelly’s husband Ryan. For everything Kelly Madison related, follow her on Twitter, and peruse the fine media offerings at PornFidelity.com.